The Goal That I Have Is to Be Happy

Born October 20, 1958, in Manhattan to a Danish businessman, Viggo Sr. and his American wife, Viggo lived in Argentina, Venezuela and Denmark before his parents divorced when he was 11. He then moved with his mother and two younger brothers to upstate New York. After completing high school, he studied at St. Lawrence University, graduating with a degree in Government and Spanish.

He made his TV debut as the Lieutenant at LeBoeuf in the George Washington mini-series (1984). His first big-screen part was in Swing Shift (1984) but his scenes were deleted, so he actually made his debut as Moses Hoechleitner, a young Amish farmer, in Witness (1985).

His varied filmography includes parts as varied as Demi Moore's sadistic drill sergeant in G.I. Jane (1997) and Diane Lane's lover in A Walk on the Moon (1999), in addition to the re-make of Psycho (1998) with Anne Heche and A Perfect Murder (1998) opposite Gwyneth Paltrow. He was in Salvation!, Witness, The Crimson Tide, The Reflecting Skin, The Indian Runner, Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, Portrait of a Lady, Carlito's Way, Daylight, 28 Days, and The Prophecy, among others. He did the voice of Hoyteck in Live Freaky Die Freaky (2003) and will be seen next as Frank T Hopkins in the epic Western, Hidalgo (2004), playing a US Cavalry rider who, in 1890, takes his American mustang horse to compete in a 3,000-mile race across the Arabian Desert.

LOVES:

1) Exene Cervenka (singer for the legendary L.A. punk band X): "We were married. We're divorced now but we have a great relationship. We met while shooting Salvation! in 1987. She's an amazing singer. If she was 22 and looked like Britney Spears, she'd be on the cover of every magazine. She writes the most beautiful lyrics and has the best voice."

2) Henry Mortensen: "He's my teenage son. He's really curious and smart ­ a great person ­ my closest friend. When Peter (Jackson) asked me to play Aragorn, the question was: 'Do you want to leave for New Zealand tomorrow?' There were plenty of reasons not to go, but my son was familiar with the books and he talked about them with his school friends. He knew about Aragorn and said, 'Oh, that's pretty cool. You should do that.' Then he joined me on the set for awhile. He's been in some other films with me. And they outfitted him with a full set of armour so he could be an Orc in a battle scene. I evaded him and Gimli killed him."

3) Home: "It's in Southern California in Topanga Canyon. I live there with my son. I'm pretty much of a loner except for the time I spend with Henry. I stay home, clean up a lot and write."

4) Being happy: "You can't achieve perfection, obviously, but the goal that I have ­ in work and in life ­ is to be happy."

5) Painting/Photography: "Painting is something where I can look at the end product and ­ whether I like it or you like it ­ I can say that's something I did. I learned by watching other people do it, and by trial and error, just like acting. I've written four books of painting, photographs and poems, including Coincidence of Memory and Signlanguage. For A Perfect Murder, I painted the large murals in my artist-character's studio. I've exhibited my work internationally, most recently in Cuba and in Los Angeles."

6) Lost: "It's an exhibition of random photographs that I took when I spent a terrifying night lost in a New Zealand rainforest while making Lord of the Rings. It was a moonless night and my friend and I tried, in vain, to find our way home through the forest. We made it back after the sun came up."

7) Poetry: "I started writing before I got into acting. I always wrote. I write anywhere, everywhere. I've written poems on airplanes, in subways, in taxis, even in the bathtub."

8) Beyond Baroque: "It's a poetry centre in Venice (California). I started coming more than ten years ago and took a poetry workshop. The readings are always great, but people aren't generally aware of this place because it's not flashy."

9) Philosophy: "I agree with the Native American author Black Elk who said that 'any man who is attached to things of this world is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by the snakes of his own passions.'"

10) Tolkien philosophy: "There is a tendency in America to say: this is good and that is evil ­ and I shall do something about it. It isn't that simple. Tolkien has Gandalf say something to the effect that nothing was evil in the beginning ­ not even Sauron. Then Aragorn says to Legolas, 'Good and evil have not changed since yesteryear, and nor are the one thing among dwarves or elves.' I found it interesting that even though Tolkien was a devout Christian, the books don't assert that there is a heavenly reward for doing the right thing. Doing the right thing is its own reward."

11) Publishing: "I founded Perceval Press in order to publish high-quality art books by artists and writers whom, I feel, are underappreciated so they can keep attendant obligations from polluting otherwise pure artistic enterprises. We print about a dozen books each year."

12) Kant philosophy: "He said, 'Seek not the favour of the multitude. It is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But see the testimony of the few, and number not the voices but weigh them."

13) Music: "I'm partial to jazz. I've released several CDs. People who are creators create."

14) Artist Lola Schnabel (daughter of painter Julian Schnabel): "We have had a wonderful relationship."

15) Camping: "It's a great way to spend quality time, outdoors, with my son Henry. I have always sought refuge outdoors. As a child, I was sleeping under a tree and found it very peaceful ­ until a dog started barking, and that's how my parents found me."

16) Designing his own living space: "When we were in New Zealand, Orlando (Bloom) and I shared a converted bus. I stocked our own wine cellar and wallpapered the inside with photos. It was a lot of fun."

17) Gardening: "It's another hobby, and I don't use pesticides."

18) Lord of the Rings message: "It's about how a person ­ even a small Hobbit ­ can make a difference and how it's essential to work together and look past differences."

19) His Lord of the Rings co-stars: "You wanted everybody to feel safe and happy. You feel like brothers and sisters. You want to take care of them."

20) Lord of the Rings tattoos: "I was the one who persuaded Ian McKellen to get his first tattoo ­ the number nine in Tolkien fantasy language. He was really into it."

21) His Lord of the Rings ring: "It became so much part of my life that I still wear the ring that I wore in the movie."

22) Swordplay: "I worked with Bob Anderson, who taught Errol Flynn. He cracked the whip for a couple of days, which really got me into the physical stuff. I did pretty much all my own stunts in the battle scenes. The stunt team trained thousands of people to use weapons. It was fantastic."

23) Hidalgo: "I like the idea of being in an American movie, and the American character goes to a Third World country, in this case the Middle East, not to destroy, not to punish, but to challenge them in this contest, and in the end they learn something and he learns something. And then he goes home. I think that's kind of healthy."

24) Writer Joseph Campbell's advice: "He said the privilege of a lifetime is being yourself. That's his feeling. And I guess it's mine too."

25) Spirituality: "In Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman said something to the effect of 'I hear and behold that God is in every object and yet I understand God not at all.'"

26) Working with Liv Tyler: "She's very relaxed and surprisingly mature. She was so convincing (that) I honestly began imagining she really was an elf princess."

27) Working with Demi Moore: "She's tough, very disciplined and very driven. But she never asked for any special treatment. She was having to do some amazing things as a girl soldier. She never complained, although I know she was in pain and afraid of certain things. She never said anything, whereas the guys were whining and complaining on some days."

28) Working with Nicole Kidman: "She never stopped working and getting inside her character's head. Nicole has all the talent but never lets it get in the way of hard work. She's also down-to-earth and could tell jokes very easily. The crew fell in love with her."

29) Working with Gwyneth Paltrow: "She's a truly beautiful woman. Always in control. I had to make sure she was comfortable, so I sang to her in Spanish. I sang her a bunch of Argentine tango songs.

30) The scar on his upper lip: "It's a reminder of my reckless youth. It was a combination of a fist and a barbwire fence on a particularly bad Halloween night. I was 17. When I got out of surgery, my friends ordered pizza to the hospital and I helped them eat (the pizzas)."

31) Horseback riding: "I enjoy it thoroughly and actually requested that Aragorn be astride in several scenes. In New Zealand, I kept my horses nearby and worked to strengthen the rider/horse bond. The horses I rode became my horses."

32) Baseball: "I'm a New York Mets fan."

33) Denmark: "My father's Danish and I always felt an affinity to that country. I lived there, selling flowers, driving a truck and writing poetry, after college."

34) Argentina: "I lived there as a child and I am a fan of the Argentine soccer team San Lorenzo ­ and when I went back there a year or so ago, they made me an honorary member of the team."

35) Languages: "I speak three (English, Spanish, Danish) and can get by in several others. I learned a bit of Maori when I was in New Zealand."

36) Esoterica: "I go through phases of intense interest in various things, like Civil War history, sword fighting and ­ recently ­ ghost dancers."

37) Being dorky: "They call me the Dork of New York."

38) Contributing to his films: "I suggested that Master Chief, the Navy SEAL instructor, recite a D.H. Lawrence poem at the end of G.I. Jane. You get to see that, after all the punches, the guy is a real gentleman ­ as a lot of the real Navy SEALS are."

39) The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928): "It's a silent movie that's now available on DVD. The original negative was destroyed in a fire but a complete version was found in a closet in a Norwegian mental institution in the early 1980s and was restored. You should see it."

LOATHES:

1) Collecting souvenirs: "How many things can you have in your house? I did keep the sword I used throughout the (Lord of the Rings) trilogy, and that's great to have. But the best souvenir I have is the memory of the experience for as long as I can remember."

2) American foreign policy: "I do feel it was ill-advised to ignore so many countries and so many millions of people around the world and in our own country who had very strong feelings about diplomacy. I don't think our government really tried at all. The agenda seemed to be set, and I think that's dangerous."

3) American domestic policy: "The administration uses nomenclature reminiscent of the '30s; it's like they're studying the German technique of subverting attention in a time of national crisis.

4) American media: "I do find that in this country you have to make a big effort to be well-informed. There is no real news anymore. The war in Iraq was not unlike a studio movie. There was a certain schedule. There was a budget. There were the appropriate visuals. There was a lot of comparing the good guys with the bad guys."

6) This political era: "I think we're in a very dark period. How much damage has been done to the credibility of the United States? This is a disturbing time, and you don't have to be of any political persuasion to be disturbed or troubled by it. I think we're in a time of deliberate cruelty and deliberate lying and, frankly, I think it's the very bottom of humanity."

7) Expatriates: "I won't say it's cowardly to leave the country, but there's something about staying here and saying what I have to say. I'm a citizen. I don't want to be outside taking potshots."

8) Poetry's bad rep: "People think poetry is a guy in a basement smoking French cigarettes, and that it doesn't have a place in our modern, high-paced world of computers and TV. I don't agree. I don't have a beret."

9) Using poetry to attract women: "I've tried, but I don't think it actually works."

10) Discussing acting: "It's impersonation."

11) Mystification of acting: "It comes down to the fact that you supply the blue, and they supply the other colours and mix them with your blue ­ and, maybe, there's some blue left in the painting and maybe there isn't. Maybe there wasn't supposed to be any there in the first place. So have some fun and make a good blue and walk away."

12) Inconsistency: "I'm a control freak about wanting my characters to be faithful to where I think they're coming from."

13) Strategic career planning: "I don't plan. I wait and hope the right thing will find me. 90 per cent of the time, I run out of money before I find the right thing."

14) Being type-cast: "When I started out, I couldn't try out for anyone even remotely shady because I looked sort of boyish. But once I did (a villain) reasonably well.

15) Knocking his past films: "It's not like you get to do any part you want. Sometimes you gotta just pay the rent. If I really think about it, there isn't any one movie I would wipe off my slate. Even during the worst experiences, there was somebody I got to know, or something about the place we were in, something memorable. A lesson."

16) Psychotherapy: "I'm not a fan of analysing. Twenty years ago, I'd say: 'I wonder why I'm here.' But now I'm too busy taking care of my life and the people around me."

17) Incompletion: "I believe you have a moral obligation to finish the job you said you would do."

18) Hollywood's social scene: "I'm just not a hobnobbing public persona. If getting acting roles were dependent on gregariousness, I wouldn't have gotten them."

19) Boredom: "There is no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there is no excuse for boredom, ever."

20) Refusing to sign autographs: "I see no excuse for it, no matter how long it takes."

21) Personal vanity: "I'm not that involved in personal grooming. But I try not to be offensive to people."

22) Frustration: "I understand why, in dire time, you'd be tempted to set your house on fire and never answer the phone again. But it would be better to ask yourself: How can I be most useful to this world?"

23) Not being able to answer every fan letter: "I consider it a compliment when people write and I used to answer each one personally ­ until it got overwhelming."

24) Replacing another actor: "Peter Jackson drafted me to do Aragorn after Stuart Townsend had started. It came as a shock. I hadn't read any of the books and found myself on a plane, reading the script, trying to imagine myself playing this character. I've never before been in a position to do a job that another actor had already started. Although I was grateful for the role, I felt a little awkward about that. I never even met Stuart. It would have been much worse had he been my best friend or something. He's 26, much younger than me, and the character of Aragorn needs to be older. It was just a casting miscalculation ­ one of those things that happens sometimes."

25) Exhaustion: "With Aragorn, I came to the project very late and I became worn out and concerned about my ability to be up to the task. I was so tired that sometimes I was practically hallucinating."

26) Stories that he lived in the woods during Lord of the Rings filming: "I went fishing a few times, but I didn't live in the woods. I couldn't have done that. I would have missed my call to the set in the morning."

­ Syndicated Features